The present invention comprises in part an improvement of the subject matter of my previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,129, issued on Jan. 21, 1986 and entitled RESEALABLE BAG AND TAMPER PROOF SEALING RING.
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,200,868; 3,727,829; 2,843,309; 1,767,700 and 4,566,129 the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse closure arrangements developed specifically for use with flexible bag type enclosures.
While the above mentioned prior art patents are more than adequate for their intended purpose and function, they are deficient in a number of respects; the most significant of which being their inability to function in more than one mode of operation.
Briefly stated, the prior art constructions are limited in that they must function either as a tamper proof closure or a resealable closure and a closure designed to fulfill one primary role has limited utility in a dual rolse capacity.
In reality practically no known individual closure can truly function as both a tamper proof closure element and a resealable closure element; wherein, the latter closure element has a wide range of latitude relative to the degree of closure effected by the closure device.
While some moderate success in this area has been achieved in the bottle closure field, virtually no noticeable advancements have been developed which envolve closures for flexible bags and the like. Given the recent spate of product tampering incidents that have occured over the past several years, there has been a long felt need for any substantive improvement in the flexible bag closure art dealing either with resealable and/or tamper proof closure constructions.